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The Supreme Court described women arsenic the “largest minority” successful India whose beingness successful the Parliament is steadily receding.
“Why not springiness women practice adjacent without reservation?” Justice B.V. Nagarathna, heading a two-judge Bench and the Supreme Court’s sole pistillate judge, observed connected Monday (November 10, 2025)
The Bench, besides comprising Justice R. Mahadevan, was proceeding a petition filed by Dr. Jaya Thakur challenging the provisions of the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’ oregon the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, granting 33% preservation to women successful the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.
The instrumentality was assented to by President Droupadi Murmu successful September 2023, but is yet to beryllium implemented, elder advocator Shobha Gupta and advocator Varun Thakur, submitted successful court.
“Why hold the ‘vandan’?” Ms. Gupta asked.
“This [the Constitutional amendment] was an lawsuit of giving women governmental justice. Political justness is connected par with societal and economical justice. Women are the largest number successful the country. Women signifier 48.44% of the full population,” Justice Nagarathna observed.
Justice Nagarathna besides pointed to Article 15(3) of the Constitution which mandates the State to instrumentality affirmative enactment and marque peculiar provisions for the empowerment of women. The tribunal issued announcement to the Union authorities done the Home and Law Ministries
The provisions of the 2023 instrumentality would beryllium implemented lone aft the behaviour of the adjacent census and the consequent delimitation workout — redrawing of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies — to find seats to beryllium reserved for women. The quota for women successful the Lok Sabha and Assemblies would proceed for 15 years and Parliament could aboriginal widen the payment period.
“A Constitutional amendment cannot beryllium held backmost for an uncertain period… For the past 75 years determination has been nary capable practice of women successful the Parliament arsenic good arsenic successful the State Legislatures. This has been a long-pending request for decades,” the petition submitted.
“When is the adjacent census? Any day for the census?” Justice Nagarathna asked.
Ms. Gupta said the Act did not springiness immoderate circumstantial clip play astir the census oregon the delimitation exercise. The elder counsel echoed the court’s oral reflection astir the request for census arsenic a pre-condition to reserve seats for women.
Justice Nagarathna said the census would quantify the population, based connected which the seats would beryllium scientifically reserved for women. Ms. Gupta said this workout of identifying seats ought to person been done earlier the Act came into force.
The petitioner had referred to the 73rd and 74th law amendments of 1993 which gave women one-third practice successful section assemblage elections. Dr. Thakur had drawn the court’s attraction to the 77th law amendment extending reservations for promotions successful jobs for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Finally, the petition had highlighted the caller implementation of the 10% EWS preservation for mediocre guardant caste sections of the nine successful acquisition institutions and nationalist employment. It said each these amendments were fixed effect without calling for census data.
